10 gardenia recipes

Italian Easter pie with layers of ricotta, mozzarella, smoked ham, spinach, sweet red peppers and fresh basil between two flaky pie crusts. A hearty holiday centerpiece served warm or room temperature.

Preserve summer's bounty with this big-batch pickled vegetable recipe. Carrots, cauliflower, green beans, peppers, celery, and olives in a tangy vinegar brine with mustard seed and turmeric. Makes 20 pints.

Lemon verbena ice cream steeps fresh herb leaves into a rich egg-yolk custard base for a smooth, floral-citrus frozen treat. An elegant homemade custard ice cream that tastes like the herb garden in summer.

Spaghetti with shrimp and browned eggplant in a fresh tomato-basil sauce. A Sicilian-style pasta with sea and garden in one bowl, finished with parmesan.

Fresh green pasta salad tosses spinach spaghetti with asparagus, zucchini, snow peas, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes in a curry-spiked mayo dressing. A vegetable garden in a bowl.

Rose petal jam from fragrant red cabbage roses, sugar syrup, and a squeeze of lemon. An old-world floral preserve with the perfume of a summer garden in every spoonful.

Risotto primavera packs spring vegetables into creamy arborio rice: green beans, peas, asparagus, artichokes, carrots, and tomatoes folded in stages, finished with butter and Parmigiano. The garden in a bowl.

What a great way to cook with seasonal veggies. I used both green zucchini and yellow summer squash that grew in my garden as well as tomato, and it was yummy and refreshing.

A chef-crafted veggie burger loaded with grated beets, carrots, turnips, zucchini, and mashed potato, bound with oats and rice, and studded with crunchy hazelnuts. These hold together on the grill and taste like a garden in the best way.

The tomatoes are getting ready in the garden, if you are like me you have an overabundance. I came up with this recipe to put on chopped steak and sausage sandwiches. I gave some to my sister and they like it on hamburgers and with stuffed peppers so I say it goes with everything. It is fresh-tasting and delicious.